Surgical castration, ‘Don’t Say Gay’ and absentee regulations. New laws go into effect in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A slew of Louisiana legislation, including a first-of-its-kind law that allows judges to impose the punishment of surgical castration for offenders guilty of certain sex crimes against children, went into effect Thursday.

Between new Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and a GOP supermajority in the Louisiana Legislature, measures mirroring national conservative priorities had a clear path forward into law this year. From anti-LGBTQ+ bills, tough-on-crime policies and additional regulations on absentee ballots, here is a closer look at some of the legislation that officially took effect Thursday.

SURGICAL CASTRATION AS PUNISHMENT

Similar to a handful of other states — including California, Florida and Texas — for more than 15 years Louisiana has had a law in place allowing judges to impose the punishment of chemical castration for rapists who prey on children.

However, Louisiana is now the first state that will give judges the option to sentence someone to surgical castration after the person has been convicted of certain aggravated sex crimes — including rape, incest and molestation — against a child under 13. The punishment is not automatic and would be at the discretion of the judge.

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